My trip to Prague V

My final posting is largely from the tower of Old Town Hall. The city bought the house in 1338, but no one seems to know exactly how old it is. Much of it was destroyed by heavy fighting in 1945, but they've done a really good job of rebuilding and making everything look ancient again. You can walk or take the elevator a few floors up and then go through a ticket check, which will allow you to walk a few extra floors before you finally step out at the top and aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, sweet fuckin' jebus, it's a long way down!

Here, my brain was trying to crawl out of my ears and back to safety. I still had enough sense to point the camera and press the right button.


I love this town.


Even so, I just had to take a skelfie.


Old Town Square, with the Jan Huus monument from 1915.


The old gunpowder tower.


Our Lady of Tyn church.


The castle.


Petrin Hill, with the tower to the right and the hunger wall to the left.


The yanks seemed to have a good time, not caring one iota that I was near death from sheer, blind anxity.


Naturally, they still needed refreshments afterwards.

My trip to Prague IV

The last touristy thing I saw up at Prague Castle, was the so called Golden Lane, a small street made up of old houses where many of the castle's menial workers lived.

The narrow street was packed with tourists.


Number 22 is associated with Franz Kafka, who lived here for appx. 2 years.


Cozy.


Super cozy.


Not sure if this was a doll or a native.


Kertek, the little mole, is very popular and omnipresent in the Czech Republic.

My trip to Prague III

After the Cathedral, I went to the part of the complex known as the Old Royal Palace, which was originally built in the 12th century. It contains several spots of historical importance.

The Vladislav Hall, where the coronation of Czech kings took place. It is so big they even held jousting competitions with muthafuckin' horses in there. I apologize for the blurry pic, but flash photography was not allowed.


From this window, outraged Protestant nobles threw three Papist fucks in 1618. This incident is known as The Second Defenestration of Prague, igniting the Thirty Year's War. Per capita it is still held by many historians to have been the bloodiest conflict in history.


The balcony just off the Hall has some great views over the city.


In another room off the Hall, the Czech Diet would meet. The Diet did not, as one might think, consist of meat, potatoes and cabbage, but was rather a type of proto-parliament, where representatives of the various high and mighty groups in society would meet to advise the King.


One of the officials of the Diet held the keys to the rooms where they kept the property protocols. These were ancient documents outlining the borders for all the properties clerical and secular in the realm. The room was conveniently situated right next to the Diet, in case a property dispute came up (it often did). Again, I apologize for the blurry pics.


As previously mentioned, the Vladislav Hall was so large they held jousting tournaments in there. The competing knights would use this entrance.

My trip to Prague II

A little later Saturday morning, I went up to Prague castle, where, for the first time, I bought actual tickets, to see the actual inside of several of its many buildings.

Prague castle, above the lovely district of Mala Strana.


I first entered the huge, old and very handsome (for a church) St Vitus cathedral.


The interior.


Hidden in one of the many glass stained windows was a picture of Emperor Palpatine as a young man.


Outside, right next to a side entrance known as the Golden Gate, is a huge painting of the Last Judgement.


There was also a statue of St George killing the dragon.


The oldest part of the castle is St George's Basilica.

My trip to Prague I

I did a week in Prague July 15-22. The trip was partially to met up with mah Houston peeps and partially plain recreation. I also went and saw some of the attractions I'd never done before, although this was my sixth visit.

The first morning I awoke freakishly early and went out to greet the city around 6PM. The astronomical clock from 1490 in Old Town Square was almost deserted at this point.


As you can see on the tower clock, the sun is just rising and it's appx. 6:20AM.


The wedding industry has really taken off in Prague since my last visit in 2009. And more than 90% of the couples are Asian. These people were actually out in the rather chilly morning air to get their pics done when I walked by at 6:30AM.


In the other direction was the Charles bridge (Karluv most), almost empty of people at this early hour. It was literally two minutes from my hotel (and that was about the only good thing you could say about the hotel).


Right next to the bridge, on the Old Town side, is this statue of Charles IV as a transvestite. Bold choice!


I was skeptical of the Charles bridge.

Prague in the summer

I have my eyes set on Prague for the summer holiday, and I have enrolled my minions in said city to be on the lookout for a decent apartment to rent. Ideally I have this vision of a huge apartment overlooking the river, a place which I can turn into party central for a month or so. Good music, good food and good conversations all through the night... ahhhh.

I am therefore enrolling even YOU, dear reader in my apartment project. If any of you have knowledge of a suitable rental space in Prague this summer, gimme a holler in the comments section. I am available from the last weekend in June till mid August, but I hope to have an agreement of rental nailed down as soon as possible.

These are the parameters of my search, the things that an apartment MUST have:
- At least two bedrooms. I'm probably going to have guests coming down from Norway and possibly other places.
- Two toilets, with at least one shower.
- A decently sized living space. The whole apartment needs to be at least 80 square meters I think, possibly upwards of a hundred.
- Fully furnished (I can't be dragging chairs and tables with me from Norway). I need some equipment in the kitchen too and a working fridge.
- Parking space. Not necessarily connected to the apartment but something not too far away from it.
- Everything paid for in the price quoted. No hidden costs, no extras.

Negotiable points:
- WIFI. I could always find a cafe, but it's practical to have a working internet connection in the apartment.
- Length of stay. Ideally a month. Could be as little as 3 weeks, could be as much as 6 weeks.
- Location. Again, ideally central - meaning Mala Strana, Stare Mesto, Holesovice and parts of Nove Mesto. But I'm open to other locations if the place is brilliant.
- Price. Ideally, as low as possible, hehe... but I can go up to 25 000 koruna for a month.

Status report 3

Headbanging to Guns & Roses with some Poles now... this night is already legendary...

Status report 2

Just finished singing my way through most of Joshua Tree with a couple of Americans. This might be one of the best nights ever.

Status report

It's 10:56 PM and I've got a bar full of people headbanging to Enter Sandman. I rock.

What a night

Tonight I've been DJ-ing for a few hours. Hooked my laptop onto the sound system and let it rip - mostly rock, like WASP, Queen and Pink Floyd. I had the distinct and hysterical pleasure of watching a Polish guy headbang to Metallica's "Sandman". The Poles were a nice bunch, as were a group of Italians. We chatted about everything from Berlusconi to Italian food to soccer in the early 80s. We shared a dislike of the French and a love of Juventus (a Turin soccer club). Good times.

The Germans, as usual, were not so nice. I dunno... when people become hideously drunk and instead of politely asking me, start TELLING me what they want to hear, I go into asshole mode. Ugh. On the bright side, some of the Krauts were polite and they all seemed to love my chocolate.

Anyways, I've been entrusted with the music for all of Saturday night and it's going to be a blast - good old rock & roll, baby. DJ Ghost in da house! Wheeeeeeee!

Party in Prague

Things are changing down here in Prague. The owner of the hotel building (an arrogant asshole if ever I saw one) has taken over the hotel as of today. He's already started firing people left and right. We don't know how long the Brick Bar has left - a month, maybe two. Sad times.

On the bright side we had a helluva party last night. I'd brought tons of Norwegian chocolate, cut them up and placed them in two huge glass bowls on the counter. They were a huge success. At midnight we went up to Letna Park to watch the Czechs go apeshit with dangerous missiles. Needless to say there was drunken debauchery everywhere. The only actual Czech person in our group, Jana, had of course brought some rockets. Here are the pics:


Spencer lighting the fuse.


The Beauty and The Beast... Jana and Spencer.


Chris, a Texan and Socrates, the Mad Greek


Bethany (sp?) and Travis, two nice Americans I met.


There was a full moooooooooooooon last night. Aooooooooooooo!

I'm coming home

Going to Prague for Fall break, September 25-October 4th. Just saying.

Exit Prague

So here I am, just killing time before I have to fly home to Norway. Still don't want to go home, I like the relaxed life down here, like hanging out in the hostel bar and meet new people every night. Sigh.

Took a walk around the fortifications up at Vysehrad again yesterday, it's a really nice area with great views. Slept much of the afternoon, then a fun night with cool people in the bar. You can find all the pictures from this trip here.

View of the Vltava (Moldau) river and Petrin hill in the distance.


Sweet Jebus, I love this city.


Stuart and Kirsti, a very nice couple from Southampton. Kirsti is a history teacher, so we had lots to talk about.


Me and Stuart + me and Conor, an American who's been living at the hostel for several weeks. Damn funny guy. We harmonise Simon & Garfunkel tunes so well we should really go on the road.


Jana, the Czech girlfriend of Spencer the Bartender. An angel in appearance and mind, although I do manage to get a rise out of her by calling her Heidi and yodel (it's the pigtails).

More from Prague

I keep having such great evenings down here, so many cool people passing through... Danes, Italians, Israelis, Americans... even Krauts! The first weekend I met two really nice German girls; one of them, Marie, had spent time in the US as an exchange student. At the age of 19, this nice, pretty blonde had already traveled to around 40 countries - which is as much as I have at twice that age. Also, I am anything but nice & pretty. I swear, if it wasn't for the fact that she still had a German accent I would probably have had to kill her out of sheer envy. Anyways, we all had a blast as witnessed by the pics below and the two girls were unanimously declared Best Germans Ever by me and the bar staff/regulars.

Two nights ago this crazy New York guy (who's working as a carpenter but actually has three years of English literature from college) gave a semi drunken, profanity filled 15 minute summary of Hamlet that was not just factually right and to the point, but also hilarious. I didn't count, but I'm pretty sure that he used the word "fuck" or varieties thereof more than all previous analysis of Hamlet put together. Yesterday him and the bartender, who's an ex-New Yorker entertained us with insane stories of subway rides, crime, housing, etc, etc.

Tonight I've spent much of my time talking to a couple of really nice Israelis, who had an impressive command of important subjects like Monty Python and Denis Leary and who also had lots of insane stories from their time in the Israeli army (chief amongst them: A top terrorist was actually caught on video by Israeli intelligence while fucking a sheep - and Israeli intelligence along the Lebanese border routinely spot the local Arabs fornicating with donkeys. Where's YouTube when you need it?). I've also impressed by managing to discern Pepsi (evil) from Coke (good) not simply by looking at their foam in the glass, I could even tell the difference when they were almost completely still and bubbleless.

I've also been hanging out with a very funny yank who's something of a stoner, but still smart enough to keep the conversation (mostly) interesting. Full of fun and always with a big grin he feeds us wild ideas and funny stories almost every night. I've also gotten to know the new female bartender, who at age 19 is probably more mature and independent than yours truly, and certainly a good deal more than any of the slackers I teach back home.

Today my boss (not knowing I was abroad) called me to discuss the staff meetings we're having Monday and Tuesday next week. It suddenly brought back to me the sad fact that I'm flying home Sunday and all this will be just a memory. I'm looking forward to seeing my colleagues again, but I'm really, really, really not looking forward to going back to actual work. Is a lottery win really too much to ask for?

Marie the Blonde and Tommy the Bartender + Hanna, the other Best German. I should hasten to add that there are probably images of me in a red fez on some German website right now... and I can't even blame it on alcohol).


Marie and Spencer the bar manager - a really cool New Yorker.


Spencer, Marie and Tommy. Awwww, look at their cute little faces...